Health Net to Cancel Assisted Living Benefits for 3,500 Medi-Cal Patients in California
Health Net, a major Medi-Cal insurer in California, is discontinuing its assisted living benefits for approximately 3,500 patients by the end of the year. This decision impacts elderly individuals, many with cognitive impairments like dementia, who rely on these benefits to cover the costs of board-and-care homes, memory care facilities, or larger group settings. The insurer's move has caused significant concern among patients' families and senior advocates, who fear that affected individuals could face homelessness or be forced into more expensive and potentially inappropriate care settings like hospitals or skilled nursing facilities. Health Net's decision follows a similar termination of a CalAIM benefit in Los Angeles County last year, which affected hundreds in temporary medical housing. The company attributes its decision partly to an increase in members moving from home to assisted living rather than from nursing homes, a trend it claims costs money instead of generating savings, and changes in prog... 
